By CHRIS JONES
ROBERT HICKS, the RFL’s director of operations and legal, has revealed that the Laws Committee will meet this Wednesday and is likely to make some significant changes to the way the game is officiated from next season onwards.
The main change that it is likely to support is the introduction of the Captain’s Challenge to Super League matches.
The Captain’s Challenge was a rule introduced by the NRL for the 2020 season. In doing so, the rule was designed to take some pressure away from referees and onto captains of a team if they strongly disagreed with a decision.
The rule was incorporated into the World Cup played in England in 2022 but has never been introduced into Super League.
“We have two key criteria when we consider law changes – safety and entertainment value,” Hicks told League Express.
“The Captain’s Challenge brings drama to the game and some supporters may be surprised to learn that the referees themselves would support its introduction, because they want decisions on the field to be the right ones.”
The Committee is expected to support its introduction this Wednesday, with the decision due to be rubber-stamped by the RFL directors.
It is also expected to discuss whether the referee’s live call in a try-scoring situation will remain when the decision goes to the video referee, with the likelihood that instead of giving his opinion on whether a try has been scored, the decision is left to both the referee and video referee working in tandem.
Other rules to be considered include the interpretation of offside following a kick downfield and the Committee will debate whether to introduce the NRL rule about short kick-offs and restarts, whereby a play-the-ball instead of a penalty is awarded for short kick-offs that don’t travel ten metres.
There will also be a discussion around tackle height and whether the improvements in technique shown in most matches this season mean that any more adjustments will be unnecessary.
“We are supposed to be lowering the tackle height next year, but we are hoping we don’t have to do it,” admitted Hicks.
“We will also look at ways to discourage players from lying down when they are subject to foul play, with stricter enforcement of the green card policy.
“And we are also going to consider the removal of the double movement rule, either by totally changing it or changing the sanction.
“And we are considering whether to modify the rule about a player catching a ball that has been kicked. A penalty is given if such a player is tackled in the air, but the debate is about whether a player should be allowed to be tackled in the air if he’s an attacking player.”
“We are looking at a longer-term view of the game as part of the reimagining of the sport.”
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